Page 224 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

Chapter 6

6.3.3 A crop ideotype can serve as a communication tool to arrive at an

appropriate variety assortment

Organic growers need to comply with organic regulations that require the

seeds used in organic production systems are: (1) produced organically and,

(2) comply with the permitted breeding methods (e.g. refraining from genetic

engineering). In addition, seed producers need to ensure that seeds produced

for the organic sector perform well under organic management practices, and

meet the varietal needs of growers operating in diverse locations and producing

for diverse end uses. For breeders to incorporate the right traits into a breeding

program for organic agriculture, good communication between breeders and

growers is needed. This study highlights the distinctive role of certiiers in the

organic seed sector in determining the seed assortment. In the US the certiiers

are positioned to play a central role in decisions concerning derogations but

they lack expertise on required varietal traits to inform their decisions. In

Europe, in an increasing number of countries, Expert Groups annually assess the

available assortment, and use this information to guide derogation decisions.

Thus, organic growers need also to communicate with certiiers about the

cultivars they choose to use and the traits they require to fulil their regulatory

requirements to use certiied organic seed. Under the IFOAM principles of

organic agriculture this is expressed in the Principle of Fairness and in terms

of this study is represented through the shared stewardship that farmers,

breeders, certiiers and seed companies have in co-creating the organic seed

sector (IFOAM, 2012).

An organic crop ideotype outlines the list of crop varietal traits required by

organic growers for optimal cultivar performance in an organic production

system. Deining an organic crop ideotype provides a useful format for

growers and breeders to communicate the required traits. Once an ideotype

has been deined, growers can match their needs with the cultivars available,

and breeders have a “blueprint” for cultivar development as e.g. described

generally by Lammerts van Bueren et al. (2002) and more speciically for wheat

by Löschenberger et al. (2008). An organic crop ideotype also can be used as

a communication tool between growers and certiiers i.e. to communicate

varietal diferences that could support derogation requests. There are various

methods for developing an organic crop ideotype. Annicchiarico and Filippi

(2008a) performed variety trials and assessed the value of an index of a variety’s

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